Machine for constructing reenforced-concrete roads



May 26, 1925 1,539,145 J. F. RQBB MACHINE -FOR CONSTRUCTING REENFORCEDCONCRETE ROADS Filed March 22, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet l 8 wwvltoa,

Join]? 1? 055 May 26, .1925.

J. F. ROBB MACHINE FOR CONSTRUCTING REENFORCED CONCRETE ROADS 4Sheefs-Shet 2 Filed March 22, 1921 Wibcess May26. 1925.

4 sheelifs-sheet 5 Filed March 22, 1921 v May 26, 1925.

J. F. ROBB MACHINE FOR CONSTRUCTING REENFORCED CONCRETE RCADS FiledMarch 22, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Ma 26, 1925.

' UN TED/ FATE T JOHN 1*. ROBE, or CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 01110, assrenon,'BY ASSIGNMENTS,

TO KOEHRING COMPANY, or MILWAUKEE; WISCONSIN, acomeoaarron or wis-CONSIN'. y

MACHINE FOR. coNs'rRUcmme nEnNroRcnn-oonean'rn nouns.

Application filedMareh 22, 1921. Serial No. 454,535.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known I, JOHN F. Rose, a citizen of the United States, residing atCleveland Heights, int-he county of Cuya hoga and State of Ohio,h aveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in- Machines forConstructing Reenforced-Concrete Roads (Case No. l), of which thefollowing is a specification.

With a view to reducing :to' a minimum the longitudinal cracking ofconcrete roads which. are being used very largely today for the purposesof road construction, engineers are requiring theemployment ofreenforcement for the concrete. ,In practice it has been found that theuse of metal reenforcing for road construction is advantageousi'ormaintaii'iing the road in a corn dition of highest etliciency, and toeliminate the defective cracking or breaking of the and base layer ofconcrete amsurface layer of concrete which unltes with the base layer ain the well known: manner.

The use of manual labor inhandling the metal reenforcingfor the road issomething desired to be obviated in the practical em: bodiment of mypresent invention; 71th the foregoing object in view .I have designed amachine which is capable of mechanically handling the metal reenforcing,whether the same be used in sections of predetermined size, or unreeledfrom a baleof suitable dimensions to properly correspond with therequirements of the road dimensions.

My machine takes anumber of different embodiments in practice. In oneinstance it maybe combined as apart of] the payer of the typegenerallyshown 111 United States patent to Lichtenberg No. 1,141,470, issued June1, 1915. According to this construction. the reenforcement handlingmachine would progress with the paving machine by which the concrete isdistributed, and I utilize; the paving machine as a crane for performingcertain preliminary operations of gettingthe reenforc'ing materialintoposit'ion ready to be dispensed by the machine pro'yided for-thispurpose. a

A "further embodimentof' the machine of i the invention is ;todesignthe/(same as a Slf-COfltzlllld power driven machine adapted totravelupon the road forms as rails,

and equipped with suitable pulling devicesf to pull the reenforcing intoplace upon the base section of concrete, which is ofcourse laid prev ousto the placing of the reenforcemenninpositionfor use. *If the Ifeen- Yforcement is handled in bales, I contemplate the utilization of suitablestraightening means therefor, together with, cuttinghdevices'by whichthe reenforcmg s cut in proper lengths to be la d down upon; the

base section. or layer of concrete, prelimif nary. to the distributingthereon of the sur face layer or section.

invention may take other forms than thoseillustra-ted for the purposesof giving a general idea of the scope and. usefulness. thereof, in thisspecification, and in the an-' nexedj drawings? 7 v 2 Figure 1- is aplan view showing a road inproce'ss of "construction, an industrial railway at one side thereof for the supplying of materials, a pavingmachineby which. the concrete ismixed and'distributed, and the wayinwhich thereenforcement in flat Figure 2' is a perspective View showing the endportion of the boom of the payer, and a quantity of reenforcing sheetssupported 'by a platform and illustrated as when being lifted by theboom acting as a sort of derrick, toshift the r'eenforcing material fromone side of the-road into a position in which itis supported on thecarrier of the dispensing machine; Figure 3 is-a plan View of theplatform and suspension cables as shown in ure 2; y 7

Figure 4 is a side View of, the machine shown in Figurel; j Figure 5 isaplalrview of the reenforce ment dispensing machine showing more sheetsmay be supplied to'the site where it is to be used;

clearly the manner in which the pull cables are connected to pull asection of re-enforcement into place upon the site where it is to beused;

Figures 6 and 7 are modified adaptations of the invention being shown inside elevation and section, respectively;

Figure 8 is a view showing more clearly the shearing knives for cuttingthe reenforcement sections from the halo when the reenforcement issupplied in bales for the dispensing machine. i

Generally speaking, the machines of the invention in their Variousembodiments are rather simple in construct-ion. In so far as thereenforcement dispensing mechanism is concerned. the same is'mountedupon a carrier capable of operating on the road forms at opposite sidesof the road, as rails. This carrier supports the sheets of reenforcingwhen they come flat. or it is con structed to support the reenforcementin a bale. if the baled type of this fabric is utilized. 7

lVith the above general statement reference is made to Figures 1 and tparticularly, in which A denotes generally a partially illustratedmachine of'the type-of the pre- 'iously identified Lichtenberg patent.This machine has a boom B on whichtraverses the distributing bucket C.The machine A operates on the subgrade 1, or over said subgrade, asdesired, and progresses in the direction of ti e arrow in the roadbuilding operation. In rear of said machine is the metal reenforcementdispensing mechanism which comprises a carrier 2 having wheels 3 adaptedto travel on the road forms I which act as rails under these conditions.At its rear end carrier 2 is adapted to support the plat-form 5 on whichthe reenforcement arranged in superposed sheets or sections of requiredsize is disposed. The front portion of the carrier 2 is largely an openframe as shown in Figure 5. The paving machine A is equipped with aspecial winding drum 6, power driven, like the other driven operatingdevices of said machine, from the engine with which the machine A isequipped. Suitable draft connections are provided bet-ween the rear endof the truck of the machine A and the front end of the carrier '2. Apull cable 8, to which the pulling hooks 9 (see Figure 5) are attachedis adapted to wind about the drum 6 on the machine A, and unwindtherefrom. The hooks 9 are adapted to be engaged with the front edge ofthe top section of the metal reenforcement on the carrier platform 5,said reenforcement being designated 10. The operator of the machine A.then causes the drum'G to be driven and the said engaged sheet ofreenforcement 10 is pulled into place upon thebase layer of concrete,

designated 11, which has been preyiously disposed upon the subgrade 1..The length of the carrier 2 may be as desired so that several sectionsof the reenforcement 10 may be pulled into position at a time.

lo facilitate the placing of a large quan tity of reenforcement 10 uponthe carrier 5, I preferably modify the construction of the paver A torender the boom 13 thereof a sort of crane or derrick device. 'In otherwords, I utilize a power driven drum 12 on the upper part of the framework to actuate the cable 13 for raising the boom 13. I utilize also apower driven gear 14 to operate the worm shaft 15 by which the worm gear16 fixed to the vertical axis of the boom B, may be operated, to shiftsaid boom in a horizontal plane.

lVith the above described controlling means it is evident that when aquantity of the reenforcement 10 is at one side of the road, as shown inFigure 1, a hook 17 on the end of the boom B may be engaged with thesuspension cables 18 of the platform 5 and said platform andreenforcement may be lifted, carried laterally, and readily placed inposition on the carrier 2-. The hook '17 is swivclled on the boom B.

If desired. the sides of the carrier 2 may have depending brackets 19 ofan adjustable type to assist in supporting the reenforcement at a properpredetermined position so that it will be imbedded a proper distance inthe concrete forming the final road structure. As a general thing,however, the brackets 19 may be dispensed with and the base layer ofconcrete relied upon to reenforce the concrete properly.

In Figure 6 the reenforcement dispensing machine is a self-containedconstruction. In this instance the carrier 2 is adapted to be driven byitsown motor 20 and has a winding drum 21 with which the pull cable 22,for pulling the reinforcement sections to position on the subgrade, isattached.

In Figure 7 a carrier 2* is illustrated as being supplied withsupporting standards 23 slotted to receive the supporting shaft 2 L bywhich a bale of reenforcing is to be carried. The reenforcing 10 is fedfrom the bale to the straightening rolls 25, and then between knives 26to the base layer of concrete on the road. An operating cable 27 isconnected with the upper knife 26 and with a motor driven part of themachine, not illustrated, to operatethe knives to cut the reenforcingwith a shearing action. In this construction I use a suitable pull cable28 for unreeling the reenforcing from the bale 10 and pulling the sameinto position as well as thru'the space between the straightening rolls25. Obviously the bales of reenforcing designated 10 may be liftedby theboom 13 of the machine A by simply engaging suspension cables with theends of the shaft 24: and with the hooks 17. In

this way, the boom Bis utilized readily for handling the heavy bale ofreenforcing, in

the same way it handles the reenforcingf when'disposed '111 a largequantity or supertact, a single man can practically attend to.

the handling of thereent'orcement and by no means will the operationrequire all of his time. f

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire toobtainby Let ters Patent, is:

l. A machine ot the class described comprising a carrier adapted totravel over a road bed, a support upon said carrier for a quantity ofreentorcing material so that the latter may be dispensed for use in theroad construction, a motor, and equipment operable trom the motor andattachable to the reen'forcement for pulling the latter into place uponthe portion of the road where it is to be used.

2. A construction substantially as claimed in claim 1 wherein the powermeans comprises a power driven winding drum, a cable adapted to wind onsaid drum, and means for connecting said cable with the reenforcingmaterial upon the carrier. i

' 3. In combination, a paving machine comprising a motor propelledsupport, boom and bucket mechanism thereon, a carrier to supportreeniorcing material, means on said motor propelled support adapted tobe connected with said reent'orcing material on the carrier to pull saidmaterial into place over the concrete to be reenforced and beneath thebucket of the boom and bucket mechanism.

in claim 1 combined with means for transferringthe support upon thecarrierto said carrier from a place at which the support and thereentorcing thereon may be picked up, the last mentioned meansconstituting a distributor. I

5. In combination, a power driven maat. A construction substantially asclaimed chine adapted to travel over a subgrade of i the road to belaid, a carrier adapted to be propelled by said power machine and asupport for a quantity of metal reent'orcing adapted to be received bysaid carrier, and

a concrete distributor on said power machine adapted to lift saidsupport from a place where it may be picked up, and trans fer the samewith the reentorcement thereon to a proper place on thecarrier;

6. A machine substantially as claimed in claim 1, combined withequipment on the boom for hoisting a supply quantity of reenforcingmaterial to position on thecarrier therefor, and means for operating theboom for the last named purpose.

7.21m a, machine of the class described, a portable support, means forsupporting concrete reentorcmg-ln a quantlty upon the support, andmeansto pull the reenforcing in place over a road bed as the support.

travels thereovenandto out the reenii-orcing in suitable lengths fordeposit upon concrete on the road. i

8. In amachjine of the class described, a portable support, meansforsupporting concrete reentorcing in a quantity upon the support, meansto pull the reentorcing in place over a road bed as the support travelsthereover, straighten it as it is so pulled,- and means to cut thereenforcing intosuitable lengths.

In testimony whereof I ZlfllX my signature.

JOHN F. ROBB.

